(LEAD) Knife attacker of opposition leader Lee sentenced to 15 yrs in prison

A regional court sentenced the knife attacker of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to 15 years in prison Friday for the January stabbing in Busan that left Lee hospitalized for over a week with a neck wound.Posing as a supporter asking for a signature, the 67-year-old attacker, surnamed Kim, approached the Democratic Party chair and stabbed him in the neck during Lee's visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2 for an airport construction site inspection.Kim has since said that his attack was intended to prevent Lee from becoming president.The attack, which occurred three months before the April 10 parliamentary elections, left Lee hospitalized for eight days for blood vessel reconstruction surgery and recovery.After investigating Kim, police found that he had written an excuse note before the stabbing, in which he accused "pro-North Korean forces" in the judiciary of delaying trials against Lee and claimed that he tried to prevent the country from falling into the hands of leftist forces.P olice concluded that Kim committed the attack out of "subjective political beliefs."The Busan District Court on Friday sentenced Kim to 15 years in prison on charges of attempted murder and election law violations."The crime was not just an attempt to strip Lee of his right to life but an act that gravely undermines social consensus and trust in the basic order of free democracy by interfering with the freedom of election," the court said.The court also denounced the attack as "a serious challenge and attempt to undermine" the election system and representative democracy, saying such actions cannot be justified under any circumstances."The accused committed the crime after accumulating hatred against the victim over a long period for holding different political viewpoints," the court concluded.The court confirmed that Kim "persistently and meticulously" planned the attack over a nine-month period and finally carried it out after attempting it while following Lee during five of Lee's public events.The court also sentenced an acquaintance of Kim to 1 1/2 years in prison, suspended for three years, on charges of aiding him in the attempted murder.Source: Yonhap News Agency